For this theme, celebrating the upcoming Year of the Snake, I looked to the East for inspiration and found it in the Chinese folklore of The Tale of the White Serpent from the Song Dynasty. It is a story of love between an immortal spirit of the white snake, Bai Niang (Bai Niang Zi), and a mortal man, Xu Xian. Here, I painted her playing the erhu (Chinese two-string 'violin') to express her feelings for him. (I've played with the costuming in my rendition -- it's more of a Tang Dynasty style. )

An interesting side story to go with the Tale of the White Serpent: In 1958, Toei Doga released Japan's very first feature-length color animated movie based on the same folklore titled Hakujaden (白蛇伝). Many sources report that young Hayao Miyazaki (17 at the time) was greatly inspired by this film. ^^

More recently, there is a Chinese film based on the same tale, starring Jet Li, called "The Sorcerer and the White Snake" (2011). He plays the monk who comes between the lovers. I have not seen this film -- I'm a big Jet Li fan, so naturally, I want to see it. (It is unfortunate that the reviews I have seen online have not been encouraging... T_T)

Anyhow, wishing everyone a prosperous Year of the Snake (begins Feb. 10)!